


Fūin kenkyū shōtai

by outlawpoet



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Multi, fixit, precocious youth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-13 15:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18472135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outlawpoet/pseuds/outlawpoet
Summary: Time Travel is harder than it looks. A desperate research programme (by the Fuin Kenkyu Shotai - Sealing Research Group) in a devastated Konoha results in the ability to send back a message, but it is received by an unexpected person. Crackfic-ish, no apologies.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tenten pretty much has only three attributes, she's good at sealing techniques(for her age), using ninja tools, and she wants to be like Tsunade. What if a perfect storm of circumstances led to those attributes leading to utter chaos?

In the wake of Nagato's attack on Konoha, few would blame you for panicking. The village destroyed, many shinobi incapacitated, the Hokage disabled and unlikely to recover, war on the horizon, Konoha was in deep trouble. But when the person panicking is in a newly formed research group, the Fuin Kenkyu Shotai, with access to the whole spectrum of forbidden and experimental techniques, and no oversight to control them, sometimes inadvisable things happen.

Formed after the death of Jiraiya, the FKS (Sealing Research Group) was Tsunade's reaction to the loss of his great fuinjutsu expertise, and an attempt to train people who might be able to take up his legacy. Unfortunately with Tsunade down after the Invasion of Pain, the Fuin Kenkyu Shotai is left with no guidance, but broad access to the stored jutsu and seal knowledge of Konoha. Danzo and Kakashi, the two people trying to pick up the pieces, don't know very much about them and largely ignore them, worsening the situation.

The team leader, an ANBU Captain way beyond his depth, decides that the only way to recover from the disasters that have plagued Konoha is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Drawing on records from the Second and Fourth Hokage, who both developed Space-Time Ninjutsu, they develop a jutsu capable of piercing the veil of time, and sending an object backwards in time, changing their own future.

But like all Space-Time Jutsu, the requirements scale as to the size of the object moved, and the distance required. Reasoning that a person would be too costly, they decide to send a message back in time as far as possible. So a minuscule special scroll is developed with every critical bit of intelligence, newly developed jutsu, and strategic information, and sent as far back as humanly possible, 13 years, taking the life of three team members and four ritual participants from complete chakra depletion.

The ANBU head of the Fuin Kenkyu Shotai himself collapses soon after, content that with this titanic effort. His world will disappear, replaced by one in which the Hokage could use the precious information to change the past.

UNFORTUNATELY, IN THE PAST:

A tiny scroll, it's immense stores of information contained by hundreds of overlapping seals, appears in the peaceful village of Konoha, three years before the Uchiha Massacre, simply inscribed, "To Senju Tsunade".

Tsunade is: NOT HERE.

The village was completely destroyed by Pain, so the position was approximate, missing the Hokage Tower by several hundred feet, falling to a tiny roadside park and lying unnoticed in a tree. Its complex seeking seals flare into being, but Tsunade is hundreds of miles away being a depressing alcoholic, so they find nothing to latch onto. Frustrated, and mistakenly not designed to do anything else (the panicked seal designers having forgotten or never known that the Slug Princess would not set foot in Konoha for years to come), the seals continue to struggle to draw the scroll to its intended recipient.

THE NEXT DAY:

A young (just five years old) Tenten, her tiny brain filled with stories of the Lady Tsunade, visits the park with her orphan cohorts. Maniacally declaring herself to be "Tsunade, hero kunoichi of Konoha," she regales her stunned fellow orphans with her exploits, throwing hoarded garden slugs at terrified bullies, righting manufactured injustice, and demonstrating a surprisingly deadly aim with "kunai"(rocks, mostly). After the group of orphans, in a rare show of solidarity, physically prevent further happenings of heroism at their expense, she contents herself by climbing the tall trees of the park, "scouting" for her fellow Konoha Nin.

That is where she finds a tiny scroll, labelled "To Senju Tsunade". Her eyes filling with perfect glee, she declares, "I am Senju Tsunade!" and reaches for the message. Like so many smart people, the seal designers outwitted themselves. Knowing so much about seals, they distrusted the common blood and heritage seals most used to protect messages to a single person, instead building a much more complicated security system involving invoked genjutsu and mental techniques that investigated the mind of the user, searching for deceit, identity concealing jutsu, body-possession, and controlling genjutsu on the bearer. The seals flare to life, probing her chakra and mind, finding only a perfectly innocent mind, with maniacal focus, no deceit, and the child-like absolute belief in her identity as Tsunade, hero kunoichi of Konoha.

The scroll unrolls in a blinding flash, the seals transferring their stored information in a bewildering torrent of memory jutsu, chakra sealing, and quickly crawling text. Tenten falls out of the tree like a stone. She lands in a bush with a resounding thump, her head still resonating with the deadly payload of every secret, dossier, and jutsu the FKS could jam into the scrolls.

"...A-Awesome", Tenten gasped, before finally submitting to the darkness.

\----

 

Nono, the "Mother" in charge of the orphans, mused on the marked change in Tenten. A very boisterous girl, she had suddenly taken to spending much of her time with the ragged scrolls and books available in the orphanage playroom. Expanding beyond her well established hero-worship of the Lady Tsunade (which Nono approved of, in her quiet way), she had taken to studying what preparatory material was available for a ninja career. All orphans in Konoha were expected to be tested in turn for suitability for the Academy, although with the end of the last war and the subsequent dropping of pressure for new shinobi, less might be expected at their young age, many passed over for now or allowed to enter later.

Nonetheless, policy was still to begin testing early. The wartime heroes like Kakashi and Maito Gai (five and seven years old, respectively at their graduation) had taught Konoha to look for the seeds of genius even in the very young.

While Tenten had little instruction, and no known genetic history of shinobi behind her, Nono could sense her undeveloped chakra flaring, and see her rapid eyes on the preparatory texts. She hoped the Academy would be everything the young spitfire wanted. To be a genius was a burden, but it would honor the orphanage and the village that had sheltered her. It was said that Lady Tsunade was travelling, seeking new and greater medical ninjutsu, strangely absent from her victorious and adoring village. There were many rumors as to what the truth was, but they all agreed that she had not been seen in Konoha since the end of the war. Perhaps Tenten was reacting to the universal acclaim Senju Tsunade evoked, and the absence that was so keenly felt. She hoped her dream would not lead her into pain.

 

\----

Tenten, curled in the corner of the orphanage playroom, read the Story of the Daring Kunoichi again. A simplistic tale, clearly meant to convey the basics of chakra use to kids without boring them to tears. Her thoughts raced. She felt her dual identity as the powerless orphan Tenten and the godlike Sannin Tsunade very keenly. At times she felt like she almost had all the knowledge and powers of a high ranking ninja of Konoha, but she was reminded like this that she was lacking even the most basic grounding in how the fundamentals of the ninja way functioned. What WAS chakra exactly? Why could she clearly visualize a ninjutsu of terrible power, a combined Earth-Wind Technique that was derived in her imagination from a towering monster of sand, yet be unable to name the elements of a simple bunshin? Clearly there was some discontinuity in her identity.

Perhaps attending the Academy would clarify it. So she was studying fiercely for the Examiner she knew would soon be visiting the Orphanage to test the children. If she could convince him to let her attend the academy, a whole new world of material would open up to her. She could feel the solution to her confusion there somewhere, waiting.

\----

The Academy Examiner came to the orphanage not expecting much. The Konoha Orphanage, like most of its kind, were for those with no support mechanism. Talented children of ninja who were orphaned were often fostered by allied clans or families, even those without any preexisting bonds were snapped up by sponsors if they came from families known to be strong in some way.

The remaining children had two strikes then against them. First, they had no known pedigree. Naturally, chakra varying greatly between people was one of the supporting factors of the great families and clans of ninja. A Hyuuga or Uchiha has comparatively vast native reserves as a gift of their heritage, their coils smooth and well-developed. And second was simply one of upbringing; no one was supporting these orphans in the establishment of the lifelong habits of ninja, the physical training, memory exercises, cultural conditioning, and conscious control of bodily functions that, more fundamental than jutsu or ninja tools, truly made a shinobi.

Some of the children would by now have found their chakra and picked up enough background information and physical capability to pass the initial screening; particularly the older ones, their heads buzzing with the Konohan culture, a village devoted entirely to ninja life. They would most likely spend a few years in the Academy before becoming members of the mainstays of Konoha's forces, the Genin and Chuunin Corps, solid, dependable nin whose lack of family name would be instantly understood and quietly respected. An orphan cared for by Konoha coming to serve it in the field was only proper.

He set up his materials in a cramped spare room at the Orphanage, some scrolls, a roster of children, and a few practice weapons. Asking the matron to send in the youngest of the children he planned to test today.

\----

Tenten got the signal from Nono, her instructions echoing in her little head. "Impress him as a potential ninja, little one". She gathered her meagre scavenged ninja tools, a scroll, several conveniently shaped rocks, a kunai she discovered half buried in the dirt, discarded white bandages wound around her hands to provide padding. She had managed to sneak away during the day sometime ago, consulting her mysterious memories for an list of training grounds that had required clean up and repair for equipment use. She had discovered that ninja tended to clean up after themselves very well, but in the more destructive exchanges, some tools could get buried or flung far enough to be missed afterwards.

She paused in front of the imposing closed door, behind which waited the man who would decide if she was ninja enough to attend the Academy this year. She gathered her chakra.

Tenten was terrified. She knew that scraps she found on the ground and mysterious dreams about the future didn't make her a ninja. But Tsunade wasn't afraid of anything.

\----

The Examiner was marking the previous kid, an engaging but extremely childish 4 year old blonde he sensed he ought to recognize from somewhere. No conscious chakra control or obvious academic ability that would suggest early admittance, but he sensed great latent chakra and seemingly boundless physical energy ought to lead to him passing in a few years. The first of the five year olds-

Bang! He looked sharply up as a three foot tall dark-haired girl kicked in the door. She seemed to hesitate as it shivered on its hinges against the wall from the force of the blow, but as her eyes found him, she drew herself up. Lifting a finger to point at him accusingly.

"BULLSEYE!" the little girl roared, "I AM HERE TO PROVE I AM A NINJA!"

The man had just begun to react to this when Tenten, perhaps sensing he had little to contribute to the conversation, lit her eyes on the practice weapons on the table. Her chubby hands dipped to her little bag, as she crouched to leap onto it.

"Hello, I-" the man began, trailing off as he dodged a barrage of rocks that would have dented his forehead, standing up and back from his seat as the little girl vaulted over the chair and onto the small table. He brought his hands up in a hopefully calming position as the girl levelled one of his practice tanto at his face.

"I will become a great kunoichi, a hero of this village." she informed him levelly. "Like TSUNADE!"

He could sense the chakra in her legs as she dove off the table into him, practice tanto leaving red marks on his arms and hands as long ingrained habit moved them into the least damaging positions to block the wildly waving weapon. He noted somewhere in the back of his mind that her strikes greatly resembled the illustrated poses in the Standard Konoha Basic Taijutsu Manual, of which this orphanage had a copy. Along with the Regulation Handbook and Scroll of E-Rank Techniques, these were texts given to every Academy Student, so there were always in good supply in a place like this.

He moved throughout the room, doing his best to keep the blazing little aspiring kunoichi in front of him. Realizing she didn't have the height to swing the tanto properly, she returned to the rocks, filling the air with stinging projectiles, as he thanked the spirits he had worn gloves, he began smoothly catching them.

Wondering how to salvage the situation, it was clear the little girl thought she needed to defeat him to prove she was capable of being a ninja. He began thinking of how to make the best of the already offtrack evaluation just as Tenten(that was her name), frustrated that her rocks were harmlessly deflected, let out a scream of pure fury, emptying her bag of rocks in a final rattling impact against his crossed arms. As he brought his hands back down to rest in a low guard, her own came into a surprising position hand seal.

Is she-

Tenten had done this successfully just twice, but the situation was perfect. A small chair was behind the Examiner, about her size, his guard was strong, but set in her direction, and his feet were flat on the ground. She focused her chakra in her core as she forced her hands into the awkward shapes. _Ram, Boar, Ox, Dog, Snake! Kawarimi no Jutsu!_

The inexpert done jutsu tunneled her vision as she was pulled across the room violently, the chair flying into the opposite wall. But as expected she was safely behind the instructor, having bypassed his guard and better the chair crashing into the wall seemed to have drawn his eye. She gathered all the chakra she had available into her arm, remembering Tsunade's reports on the attempts to duplicate her destructive strength. Sadly her dreams had no answers, but even the failures were instructive, the dossiers she imagined reading comparing attempts to 'mere chakra reinforcement'. She knew from experience with intense focus she could bury her fist into the dirt with a thud that without chakra would have broken her hand. She swiped at the backs of the Examiner's knees desperately, knowing he would soon be facing in her direction.

The situation was deteriorating rapidly, the Examiner felt. A chakra-laden fist actually brushed the back of his leg, sending a shiver up his spine as he instinctively flicked up to the corner of the room, his hand dipping to a kunai pouch that didn't hang at his belt today. This needed to be more of a test and less of a duel with a 3 foot ping pong ball. "What is the fourth Shinobi Rule?" he barked on a sudden impulse.

Tentent froze momentarily, "A shinobi must always put the mission first!" she squawked back at him, gathering what was left of her chakra and bringing it to her knees, for a final leap up at the Examiner now hanging above her. Her fists clenched, she settled on a low strike at his face to dislodge him. As he settled on the other side of the room, she bounced back, drawing her precious hoarded kunai in a high guard as she rocketed into him, catching by surprise. He had time to push the point of the kunai past his face with a high block before her weight struck him in the face and shoulders, toppling them both to the ground.

"Bullseye!" she crowed, "one hundred shots, one hundred hits!"

Her legs were entangled in his arms in an awkward way, so she contented herself with raising the kunai for another strike at his face. He rolled expertly, depositing her on the ground and rising to his feet.

"Who is the ultimate authority in the village of Konoha?" he said.

She scowled, getting clumsily to her feet. "The Sandaime Hokage!"

He grabbed the small target against the wall and held it in front of him suggestively. Immediately brightening, she snatched the practice senbon they had spilled to the floor and hurled them with commendable accuracy. In the small room, she was only seven feet away, so her senbon clinked against each other in the center of the target. He put the target against the wall again, and gave the obviously tiring girl a reassuring smile.

"I think you have done very well, for such a young girl.." he began, as her finely honed detector of patronizing tones began going off, she narrowed her eyes.

She fingered her last secret, hidden in her shirt. A torn scrap of paper with a seal she found and recognized from the Regulation Handbook's four described Standard Seals as a simple storage seal for inanimate objects. She had painstaking pasted the seal into a blank scroll, and through trial and error discovered what could be placed within in it. It would have to be her final technique.

She spun around, slinging the final senbon she had hidden in her hand at the Examiner to distract him as she struggled to quickly unstick the end the scroll. Throwing the center spindle and holding the free end in her teeth, it spiralled towards him, unrolling just as she'd practiced. "UNSEAL!", she screamed, her hands moving through the simple _Ox, Hare_ sequence: " ** _Tenten-style Dirt Destroyer!"_**

At this point the Examiner abandoned all pretense of decorum, his dive for the window not quite saving him from the stream of rocks and dirt that sprayed from the much abused scroll, quickly filling his side of the small room. The dirt and rocks filling his mouth, he came to rest half-buried in a soft pile. Spitting and struggling to free his legs, he opened his eyes just in time to see the little girl carefully draw the practice tanto across his neck, the inked edges leaving two red marks up and down his throat on both sides. He knew from long experience it would take two days for the marks to completely fade, even with scrubbing, and sighed, thinking of the conversations ahead of him at the Academy.

He looked at the panting little girl, who was waiting with serious eyes on her knees, covered in dirt in the thoroughly destroyed little room. He could hear raised voices in the hall, debating whether to open the door to check on the noise. He suspected Tenten's name was being raised on the side of Not Opening the Door.

Wordlessly, he reached in his vest for a storage scroll. Unsealing a copy each of the newest Regulation Handbook, Scroll of E-Rank Techniques, and Standard Konoha Taijutsu Manual, he handed the stack to the little girl, along with a practice pouch of training kunai, scrolls, inkpens, target shuriken, and packet of rope and wire.

"Tenten, do you love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity?" he intoned.

"Yes", she said without hesitation.

"Do you have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work?"

"Yes"

"Are you healthy in mind and body?"

"Yes!" she said.

"You start in two weeks."

\----

_Trainee displays conscious control of chakra, command of background knowledge of Shinobi Regulations, and above average weapons skills for Academy Student. Chakra capacity low: stamina training recommended, Investigation for fuinjutsu talent and tactical insight scheduled. Provisional Access to E-Rank materials granted, training tools issued. Enrolled in Standard Academy Program, notation for possible accelerated placement pending psychological evaluation._

\----

AN: Here we go people. Something a little lighter and more fun, maybe loosen up the fingers a little bit, I haven't given up on Konoha's Shining Serpent, but it's been slow going. Here's a little more fast and loose, and once I started thinking about that poor poor instructor, it was easy to write. _Not the face, not the face!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Last time on FKS: Konoha! A Desperate Attempt to Save the Village sends a Message back in time! Tenten intercepts the future intelligence, and smoothly integrates it into her childhood fantasies of being Lady Tsunade. Seeking to understand more of her strange visions and driven by a vague understanding of what is coming she enters the Academy early, her skills undeveloped but not lacking in confidence. She begins her school year as a seemingly "normal" 5 year old genius._

-

New Academy Students all went through the same process. No matter how old, what clan, and how promising. They started in a big group in front of the Academy. Those with families or clans had representatives with them, the rest milled in a uneasy group. The Hokage walked up to the front and gave a moving little speech about the Will of Fire, and how they would become ninja who protected the future of the village. Then family bid them goodbye; the only one from the main line of a clan, an Inuzuka, had a little ceremony Tenten didn't understand, and then they walked into the building.

There the picture rapidly changed. They were split into classes by a clearly bored chuunin whose fast delivery led several hesitant kids to miss the first time their names were called. Once in groups they were led to classrooms where a teacher whose name they weren't told broke them into even smaller groups, and set them all to a series of simple tasks, arm and leg movements Tenten didn't understand the purpose of, and a review of the hand seals Tenten recognized from the Scroll of E-Rank Techniques.

She wasn't sure from their reaction whether she was doing well or poorly. Some of the clan kids seemed to have the same reaction, although most of the children just looked mystified. Some didn't even seem to have encountered the concept of hand seals before.

Then came her favorite part of the day, where they were painstakingly taught a simple jutsu to produce light. She formed the three handseals, Tiger, Bird, Dragon, and strongly intoned the words: **Hikari no Jutsu** and was rewarded by a strong glow from the center of her palms. This technique did nothing, so far as she could tell, but produce light. Looking at her classmates, she suspected it was really another kind of test. Towards the end of the session, when almost everyone had mastered the jutsu, the unnamed teacher began exhorting them to keep the light lit longer, or brighter.

After a while she started to feel a familiar sensation in her stomach and palms, a shuddering emptiness. She narrowed her eyes across the room at the teacher working with one of the slower students. This technique took a surprising amount of chakra for such a simple result. Perhaps this was also a test of stamina and chakra reserves? She would need to ensure she passed this hidden test also.

She waited until the end of the period, when all the kids had at least managed to produce something from their hands, and the teacher was almost certainly watching the kids to see who had kept practicing the Hikari no Jutsu, and how they were holding up. She walked directly up to him while he was looking elsewhere, rehearsing the motions and sensation of chakra in her head.

She had discovered something while testing the techniques from the scroll she had been given to study. When she forced more chakra than normally required to a jutsu, strange things happened. Sometimes they ceased to work, sometimes they did new things. When she was low on chakra, she often had to squeeze harder down deep in her hara to get the chakra needed, but if she imagined that squeezing now, when she still had plenty, she thought she could get a lot more into this technique.

"Sensei," she began artlessly, " I'm not sure how to get this light to be brighter..."

The teacher sighed, "You just need to be sure your hand seals are sharp and quick, and push a little more chakra into it."

She nodded once, sharply, as expected. She carefully set her feet a little apart, no sense in revealing if the low chakra made her dizzy, her purpose was to impress. She knew this was the last period of the day, and she needn't worry about holding anything in reserve. Further, Tsunade often got reports of ninjas who suffered "chakra exhaustion" and while they were sometimes ordered not to do anything for a little while, it didn't sound that serious. She would have until tomorrow to get better if anything happened. She grit her teeth and imagined the tingling pain of chakra overuse in her hands. The teacher, sensing something, swung his head over to look at her. She flashed through the seals, faster than she had ever gone in front of others; Tiger, Bird, Dragon! and she screamed her voice raw inside her mind: **Hikari no Jutsu**!

Drawn by the screams of panic, the school medic said the flash-blindness would subside in a few minutes, and the afterimages would fade in the next hour. Anyone who still had symptoms should see her before classes the next day.

-

As the week passed, things at the Academy settled into a new routine. The children who weren't from ninja families or clans gradually became used to the physical demands and early hours, as introductory material was covered the teachers settled into beginning the long, unrewarding process of cramming as much rote facts and tactics into bored kids repeatedly, with more idiosyncratic training in taijutsu, physical skills, and tool use in and outside the classroom.

Tenten didn't have any special restrictions or styles, so she focused on her general skills. Standard Leaf Taijutsu, Shuriken and Kunai throwing (which she had already shown distinction in) took up most of her non-class time, which some of the other kids split between Academy lessons and family styles, unusual weapons training, or remedial instruction in hand seals, chakra, or unfamiliar academic subjects.

As the teachers were finding out, Tenten's education was spotty at best, the orphanage had an eclectic collection of materials, and the caretakers were too busy to go into much detailed instruction. But she showed great familiarity with shinobi subjects, particularly rules and standards, and she had a fearless confidence that led her to leap forward into subjects, regardless of her own ignorance. And she would make strange leaps sometimes, concluding that this or that strategy was flawed, intuiting the existence of more powerful jutsu from weaker ones, and making accurate guesses about the workings of foreign villages, politics, and bureaucracies.

At this her teachers nodded knowingly. As a child in an orphanage, Tenten had clung to the rules and predictability of the system as comforting regularities. She had no doubt focused on ninja stories and brooded upon them as extensions of the institutional life she led, which accounted for her deep insight into the workings of groups she'd never encountered before. Her idolization of Tsunade was only natural, and not much commented upon.

She was a fierce, determined child, as was expected of the the youngest student in the Academy in the post-war period. Any attempts of other kids to pick on her in class didn't last long, as the teachers quickly disabused them of the notion, at least in their territory. But she clearly didn't have any friends, and the wary look in her eyes around her fellow students suggested she wasn't much looking to make any either.

The resentful looks of students four years older than her losing in the taijutsu spars (badly, at times) told the story. Tenten was going to have problems later, it remained to be seen if she had a plan for making it through the Academy as a loner. The teachers would wait and see, a ninja had to be able to fight their own battles, after all.

-

As the paperwork made its slow way through Konoha, instructors found time to shadow Tenten as she went through her little routines and come to the conclusion that she was a normal talented youngster, and that the notation on her jacket for possible mental instability could be laid at the feet of her relative youth for an Academy student. Her access to the Academy library was granted, and she was given a special appointment with one of the instructors the next day. Not knowing what to expect, she gathered her ninja equipment, did the best to smooth out her somewhat tattered clothes, and marched into her office prepared for anything.

-

Yuuhi Kurenai, chuunin instructor, watched the little girl stiffly walk into her office. While they were all technically the same rank, she had a growing reputation as a genjutsu mistress, and was widely expected to take the Jounin trials soon. Her participation at the academy was more focused than most instructors, as they tended to give her special cases and difficult students with more specialized skills. She was not surprised to see the tiny Tenten there, although a little surprised why.

She'd been handed a note to examine her for possible skill in fuinjutsu, a difficult field that required great dedication. Kurenai herself had some competence in it because of her genjutsu style, and natural tendency towards academic subjects, but it was dangerous to teach, so they tended to evaluate students before giving them much instruction, or leaving it up to their eventual Jounin instructors or families.

"So," she smiled at the diminutive girl, "I understand you used a sealing technique in your evaluation for entrance to the Academy?"

Tenten nodded seriously. "A Standard Storage Seal, inanimate, on a secondary scroll."

"That doesn't sound like much of a weapon..." Kurenai trailed off as she looked up the paperwork, "the full report indicates you used this to disable the Examiner?"

"I filled it as full of dirt as I could, ma'am. And threw it, enclosing him from above, to bury him."

"Hmm, not very flexible, although I suppose it would be more chakra efficient than an Earth Technique of the same size.."

"We were inside, in a small room, it limited his mobility.", Tenten shrugged. In the last few weeks, she'd learned the limitations of the strategy in comparison to real offensive jutsu.

"Do you have the Storage Seal with you?"

Tenten handed Kurenai the bedraggled scroll to examine. The seal was carefully pasted in the first third of it, although some edges had begun to fray from use, and the paper was not longer well bonded flat. Kurenai could see the seal had been transferred from something else, and didn't ask, although Tenten felt her eyes on her.

"I recognized the Seal from the Regulation Handbook, and determined what it's capacity was by experimentation at Training Ground 13".

"And have you tried to duplicate it?" Kurenai asked.

"No. I don't know how, and the materials I have don't explain anything."

"Good." Kurenai said firmly. "Fuinjutsu is very dangerous and experimentation is something you should not do until you understand the risks and procedures. I'm going to show you the process of drawing a simple seal, and the preparation for the ink. When you believe you understand, you will demonstrate for me. Then, when you go home, you may practice drawing the seal, although you may NOT ATTEMPT TO ACTIVATE IT."

Tenten, who had become very excited, tried not to jump away as Kurenai was suddenly very very loud.

"Now, since you are familiar with the Storage Seal, I am going to inscribe a basic Resistance Seal, and then you are going to attempt to activate it. First we will begin with the ink..."

Tenten paid close attention as Kurenai demonstrated. She asked no questions, but Kurenai didn't doubt she understood it all.

-

It was a month later that a very nervous Kurenai was before the Hokage to appeal for the Jounin Trials. The grandfatherly ninja was comforting to most Konohans, as his leadership had kept them successful and safe through much, although he had tried to retire six years before, his successor had not lasted much more than a year.

After making it through her request, she was treated to an uncomfortable conversation with the Sandaime, Yamanaka Inoichi (head of T&I) and Nara Shikaku(the recently appointed Jounin Commander). It was a transparent ploy to dig at her composure and get a little information from her, but she didn't dare point it out. They discussed her previous career, the balance of genjutsu and ninjutsu techniques, and some of her colleagues, before the Hokage surprised her by asking after her time at the Academy.

"I enjoy teaching, I suppose, Hokage-sama. Children tend to be very restless. It can be hard to know they understand you very well, but some show promise..."

"Indeed, the young often make things difficult for themselves." The Hokage agreed, sharing an ironic look with Shikaku. "I understand you spent some time with Tenten, the young student who so surprisingly entered while only five?"

"Ah, yes Hokage-sama, I evaluated her in fuinjutsu, as I am qualified. She is a very serious child. I have found her to be a good student."

The Hokage smiled tolerantly, "It's my understanding that her classmates might not agree with that assessment of her as a serious studious child, Kurenai-chan."

Kurenai shook her head, unconsciously defensive, "She's tiny, in a taijutsu spar she has to get a little wild or get crushed. If she's aggressive she can control the pace. They just don't like losing to a younger student, or a girl. Hokage-sama." she amended belatedly.

"And how are her fuinjutsu skills?" interjected Shikaku.

"Impressive. In a month's time she's mastered the Standard Storage and Explosive Seals, the basic Resistance and Barrier types will come soon. She needs to work on accuracy and speed, but I would be surprised if she didn't progress further. She likes seals. Her chakra control isn't amazing, and her reserves are still small, but she spends a lot of time on them. Tenten isn't asleep much..." Kurenai trailed off as she realized she'd been talking very casually of a mere Academy Student with the three most powerful ninja in the village.

"Why don't you go wait with the receptionist, while we discuss your Trials." Inoichi finally rescued her, suggesting kindly.

She walked away in relief while the three studied her.

"I would say no." Shikaku finally said. "Not yet, but very soon. She's got the skills, but she's hesitant."

"You may underestimate how intimidating we three might be to a chuunin." the Hokage chuckled.

"We should give her a chance," began the unusually quiet Inoichi, "she is the strongest genjutsu user in the village without a bloodline."

"Genjutsu, good missions record, seals, even her performance at the Academy recommends her," the Hokage mused, "the instructors were most complimentary about her short time there."

"We should ask the littlest genius what she thinks of her teacher." Shikaku said.

"Little indeed, she's only a year older than Ino." Inoichi shook his head. "I don't know what Ibiki was thinking. The war is over, we don't just need warm bodies anymore. Kumo is even talking about an alliance treaty."

"You know very well," Shikaku said, "Ibiki was thinking of those red marks on his neck, he lost to that little girl, unprepared or not. And the teacher reports are glowing, she's going to graduate in a year if she can gain enough offensive power to offset her low chakra."

"It's the slugs that interest me." the Hokage suddenly said.

"Slugs, Hokage-sama?" Even the Nara looked puzzled.

"It is said that her classmates who might be inclined to be a little cruel to such a small girl, fear her slugs." the Hokage explained.

"Surely she can't have a Summoning Contract already!" Inoichi protested. "She isn't even a Genin yet. Who would even give it to her?"

"There are other ways to obtain animals to do your bidding," the Hokage said mildly, "I believe them to be ordinary garden slugs which she keeps in imitation of Tsunade. They may lack Katsuya's acid power, but they are strange and uncomfortable enough to a child."

"A observer for her psychological review said he saw her trying to share chakra with one." Shikaku remembered from the report. "She may have been trying to duplicate the Inuzuka chakra infusion of dogs."

"Inventive enough for a young genius. Although... unlikely to bear fruit, chakra infusion is a long road, and slugs do not live long enough for the Inuzuka process. Strange that it reassures me. I was suspicious to see such a talented young ninja arise from humble beginnings. But Tenten's troubles and wasted cleverness excuse her successes. No plant or spy would spend their time on something most adults know to be impossible."

"It's the childish refusal to adhere to the merely possible that makes a prodigy." Shikaku quoted.

"She will graduate this year, and we'll see what is possible for her," the Hokage said, "early successes may come to less. Her chakra will always be small by clan standards, and she has no special features as of yet. As to Yuuhi, let us test her, and see what SHE may do."

The other two ninja left the Sandaime to the relative solitude of his office and ANBU escort. He looked out the window of the office he still hadn't quite accepted as his own again.

"Tsunade, your shadow grows." he said to the night. His students were gone. Orochimaru banished, Jiraiya guiltily shadowing him, Tsunade a wreck who couldn't be in the village or act as a medic without breaking down. Minato dead of a noble self-sacrifice he should have seen coming, the Uchiha withdrawing from village life, their jinchuriki a child who wouldn't be combat-ready for years. He knew Naruto, he wouldn't be a 5 year old graduate like this Tenten. Although perhaps he should take advantage of his next visit to the Orphanage to look in on her, she could be a good influence on the boy. Konoha seemed strong, triumphant in the wars, surviving the Kyuubi, but he felt weak. The next generation had not taken the flame from him yet.

"Slugs." He wondered what Tenten would amount to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some edits. i just love tenten's tsunade thing so much you guys.


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